Beans Creek Winery celebrates 20th anniversary

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With 20 years of memories and countless bottles of wine enjoyed by locals and visitors alike, Beans Creek Winery is in the midst of celebrating its 20th anniversary in a big way.

Located at 426 Ragsdale Road, Manchester, the winery founded by the late Tom Brown is welcoming the addition of three new Murfreesboro-based investors Jimmy Davis, Richard Davis and Tim Miles. In the words of Davis, the goal is to not only grow the Beans Creek brand, but create a destination winery drawing people in from all over.

Winemaker Josh Brown said the move will allow him to concentrate more on making great wine, rather than the business side of the winery founded by his father.

“With Jimmy and Tim and Richard, they have been in business and they know it and they have business experience and that helps a lot on doing some things,” Brown said. “With them coming in to run the day-to-day operations it gives some more time just to concentrate just on the winemaking.”

While the quartet are planning on making upgrades to the winery, including a renewed area outside featuring pavilions, fire pits and landscaping, investor Jimmy Davis said one thing they will not be messing with are the signature Beans Creek wines that customers have come to know and love.

“We have been here almost three months now and I have not had one person come in here and say they don’t like the wines,” Davis said. “Now there are some wines they like better than others, or they don’t like whites and prefer reds, but the ones they taste they like.”

While the winery has some new investors, Brown said both he and his mom still have a financial interest in the business.

“We are still a partner, me and my mom, that hasn’t changed at all,” he said.

Davis said that is something that will only change if the Browns want it to change.

“It won’t change until they deem it to change,” he said. “They are going to continue to be a part of this until they choose not to.”

Brown said this is an opportunity for Beans Creek Winery to go bigger following a few hurdles that have had to be overcome since the winery opened, including the recession in 2008 and 2009 that followed a period of expansion at Beans Creek.

When it comes to the wine, Beans Creek currently features about 24 different labels made from about 10 different varietals of grapes. These include Chardonel, Shof’s Rose and Tennessee Cynthiana.

Brown said there are also seasonal options that are available at different times of the year.

Investor Tim Miles said there are no plans to mess around with those foundational wines that customers have come to know and love.

“Our plan is to always keep the foundational wines the way they are, the way they were,” he said. “We don’t want to mess with those because they are great and we want to keep that.”

Future plans also include the additional of food service, as well as the possibility of purchasing land to grow their own grapes, Davis said.

Beans Creek Winery formally celebrated its 20th anniversary with The Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce January 23 with a full house of friends, family and customers. The winery was also recognized with the Tourism Community Partner Award during the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce 48th Annual Awards Gala.

For more information or a list of upcoming events at Beans Creek Winery, visit www.beanscreekwinery.com.